What’s Eastbourne famous for?
By Geoff Fielder
At first thought about that question, I have to admit to some difficulty in answering, but then as I pondered a little more, I was surprised at how much sprung to mind. Here’s a quick rundown.
Old people
No, don’t titter. The UK is an ageing society and the average age is rising in most parts of the nation. As it happens, Eastbourne does not have the oldest UK population. That honour goes to Downham Market in South West Norfolk (which, as it happens, is the constituency of the Prime Minister, Liz Truss).
However, we have to admit that Eastbourne has, somewhat unjustifiably, acquired this reputation as a result of press hype and TV entertainers making the town the butt of their humour. Tricky to shake off, but then that’s partly why we have Chalk, to spread the truth about the town! The average age of our residents is actually only 45.
The Pier
Built between 1866 and 1872, Eastbourne pier is about 300m long and sits on stilts that can move in rough weather. No matter though, because the entrance was swept away by a storm just five years later, being rebuilt on the higher promenade. A decade later, a 400-seat domed pavilion was built, but only two years on this was replaced with a 1000-seat theatre, bar, camera obscura and office suite, swiftly augmented with two saloons built on the midway deck.
This golden period continued until the Second World War, when a quantity of the deck was removed in order to host machine guns. Thus began a less distinguished period for the pier, beginning with an exploding mine in 1942, causing serious damage to the pier and nearby hotels. At some point during this period, the pier’s domes were repainted blue, possibly to match the Eastbourne Council colours used on buses and the seafront railings.
Things went quiet again until 1970, when the theatre burnt down, being replaced with a general entertainment venue, which subsequently hosted an annual production of the “Fol de Rols” (Translation: A gaudy thing of little value; a trinket), starring luminaries such as Jack Tripp and Arthur Askey, and running until 1976, when it reinvented itself as Atlantis Night Club and the Waterfront Bar.
A mere slip of time later, in 2014, a massive fire destroyed the slot-machine arcade and the mid-deck bars, the debris making way for an “open deck”, i.e. empty area (Ed: which as of 2022 has now been repopulated with two permanent structures, one home to a new mini golf centre). As part of this resurgence, the domes have since been repainted gold by the new owner, causing a considerable degree of local consternation and outrage, until it was pointed out that they were painted gold in the first place.
So our pier lives on, in defiance of the scientific certainty that, eventually, the combination of bunches of high-voltage cables, wood and moisture will burst into flames. For the ultimate proof, just look at the West Pier, Brighton. Not that we’re smug or anything.
Beachy Head
The majestic chalk cliffs at Eastbourne’s west end rise to 530 feet above sea level, affording fantastic views of the English Channel and across Pevensey Bay to Hastings. On a very clear day, you can just glimpse the French coast too, despite Brexit.
Beachy Head marks the beginning of the South Downs Way, which continues all the way to Winchester in Hampshire. It’s popular with walkers and ramblers, providing relatively easy sauntering across the South Downs National Park to Birling Gap and Seaford. You can stop off on the way at the Beachy Head Pub and Restaurant, the Tiger Inn at East Dean or the Birling Gap cafe. If you go down to the beach at Birling Gap, you can really appreciate the mighty presence of the cliffs as they tower above you, and it’s worth walking back along the shingle towards Eastbourne, and rounding the projection just before the lighthouse for a fantastic view across to the Eastbourne coast.
The Beachy Head cliff tops are a popular place for on-location filming. A Clarkson-era Top Gear feature was filmed there and singer Harry Styles used them for a publicity shoot. The cliff tops also featured in the outdoor shots for a significant amount of footage for the film Brighton Rock. And keen Potter-fans will notice that the famous location also played host to the Quidditch World Cup.
Sadly, those bright white cliffs have a dark side too. Beachy Head is reckoned to be the third most used site in the world for suicide, two places behind California’s Golden Gate Bridge. Even walking at a fairly near but safe distance from the edge brings on a weird psychological magnetism that, if you’re not careful, draws you closer. There are some very foolish people who sit with their legs hanging over. Don’t do that! Keep back and stay safe. You never know what cracks might be below you.
Eric Ravilious
Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) is a widely-acclaimed British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his prolific watercolours of the South Downs and other English landscapes, as well as over one hundred pictures produced as a war artist, each possessing an off-kilter, modernist sensibility and clarity. His cohort of fans includes no less than Turner prize winner Grayson Perry, author and playwright Alan Bennett and the exiled Chinese contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei.
There are a number of UK towns which lay claim to being, at one time or another, the home of Eric Ravilious. However, Eastbourne quite rightly deserves the lion’s share of the recognition on that score. Born in London, his parents brought him to Eastbourne as a child, where they lived in the West Hampden Park area of the town. This is commemorated with a blue plaque on the Ravilious’s former home. He was educated at Eastbourne Grammar School and in 1919 he won a scholarship to Eastbourne College of Art. In 1922, he won a further scholarship to the Royal College of Art. During 1924, he studied under Paul Nash, a surrealist painter and war artist. This was followed by a scholarship tour of Italy, before he returned to Eastbourne, teaching through the late 1920s at Eastbourne College of Art, where he met artist and engraver Eileen Garwood. They married in 1930 and returned to London, where Ravilious took up a post at the Royal College of Art.
In November 1933, Ravilious held his first solo exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in London, entitled "An Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings", where 20 of the 37 works displayed were sold.
A film of Ravilious’s life has just been released (1st July 2022) by Foxtrot Films, entitled Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War. It features Anne Ullmann, his one surviving child, in which she reads out a letter posted in 1942 from Iceland by her father to Eileen, a few days before his death. Ravilious died when his RAF aircraft disappeared into the sea shortly after taking off from Iceland. The wreckage has never been found.
Lewis Carroll
From 1877 to 1896 Lewis Carroll, whose works include Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Jabberwocky, spent his summers by the sea in Eastbourne. Carroll, real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, made Eastbourne his second home, with regular visits. The town commemorated these visits by erecting a blue plaque at 7 Lushington Road, where he often stayed.
The author, originally from Surrey, was believed to have favoured Eastbourne for the light and the sea breeze, and was often seen at the end of the newly-built pier, enjoying fish and chips. Maybe he was enjoying other stuff too, given the incredulous environs of Wonderland, not to mention those very slithy toves.
Eddie Izzard
In 1969, at the age of seven, Eddie’s family moved to Bexhill from Northern Ireland, soon after the death of his mother, and went to school at St. Bedes and Eastbourne College. Eddie now identifies as genderfluid and calls herself "somewhat boy-ish and somewhat girl-ish" but does not mind whether he’s referred to as “she/her” or “he/him”. Eddie gained his A-levels at Eastbourne College and studied for a degree course in Drama at Sheffield University.
Eddie went on to entertain audiences worldwide, as a comedian, actor and TV celebrity. Amazingly, in July 2009, having had only five weeks training and with no previous experience, Eddie ran seven weeks’ of daily marathons (except on Sundays) for the Sport Relief charity. Many more marathons followed and, through January 2020, Eddie ran one marathon a day to raise money for a number of charities.
Since 2005, Eddie has stood for several political posts, including Mayor of London and the National Executive of the Labour Party, so far without success. She has, however, been widely honoured by the academic world and by the media for her contribution to entertainment and for her charity work.
Airbourne
If you like sitting on a sunny beach with an ice-cream and watching aeroplanes, including the famous Red Arrows, free of charge, with a running commentary from the experts, then Eastbourne’s your go-to place. The Airbourne show takes off every year, flying across a whole weekend in late August, and will be celebrating its 30th year in 2023. Apart from aircraft, Airbourne features vintage and emergency vehicles and other entertainment on the Western Lawns, together with a good choice of food stalls, drinks and ice-cream kiosks.
The Towner
The Towner Art Gallery was relocated in 2009 from its manor house in Gildredge Park to a very contemporary purpose-built premises in the “Devonshire Quarter” of the town, adjacent to the refurbished Congress Theatre. It holds over 4,000 works of art, and includes a dedicated Ravilious Gallery with a permanent display of Ravilious’s work.
Since 2014, it has been run as an independent charitable trust, chaired by the broadcaster David Dimbleby, although Eastbourne Council and Arts Council England still contribute to the running costs. As well as the Ravilious exhibition, it’s currently running “Reuniting the Twenties Group - from Barbara Hepworth to Victor Passmore” and “Cruising the Collection - a selection of works telling the stories of forgotten or neglected queer histories”.
The exterior of the building is itself currently a work of art until May 2024, having been transformed by German artist Lothar Gotz, with his new large-scale, colourful geometric artwork, 'Dance Diagonal'. The gallery also houses a cinema, which is currently showing the Ravilious “Drawn to War” film until 28 October 2022, as well as short runs of many arthouse cinema productions too numerous to mention here, starring famous actors such as Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Timothy Spall.
The Bavard Bar runs regular weekly entertainment, with comedy, music and “TED”-type talks from various guests, Wriggle Room does free stuff for under 5’s every Tuesday during term-time and there’s a very nice cafe on the top floor for quick refreshment. More at https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on.
Tennis
Eastbourne runs a prestigious tennis tournament a couple of weeks before the Wimbledon Championships. This year saw no less than Serena Williams, in very good form, playing her warm-up matches before making what was probably her last appearance in the Wimbledon Ladies singles event.
The Harbour
The Sovereign Harbour opened in 1993 and was originally just a place for local boat owners to moor and store their vessels. It’s now Northern Europe’s largest composite marina, with five harbour areas, retail outlets, restaurants and an extended mix of housing and apartments, numbering approximately 3500 homes. The harbour is also now the permanent home of the Eastbourne Lifeboat.
Tommy Cooper
Now, not a lot of people will know this one but, back in the day, Tommy Cooper had a little cottage retreat in Motcombe Lane, where he would sometimes stay when not working. He was often to be seen, of an evening, in one of his favourite drinking establishments, the Lamb Inn, where he and his wife would sit and moan at one another for a couple of hours before ambling the short distance home, in single file.
Theresa May
Former Prime Minister Theresa May was born in Eastbourne in October 1956. She moved away as a young teenager when her father became vicar of Enstone in Oxfordshire.
Banoffee Pie
The toffee, banana and cream confection known as Banoffee Pie was invented by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding, the owner and chef, respectively, of The Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, a few miles outside of Eastbourne. Sadly, the restaurant closed quite a few years ago and is much missed.
Toploader
Probably Eastbourne’s only properly successful contribution to the pop scene, Toploader formed in 1997 and achieved over two million album sales and several top 20 hits both at home and abroad. Their debut album, Onka's Big Moka, sold over one million units and stayed in the UK albums chart for six months. They received four nominations at the 2001 Brit Awards. Their most well-known song is "Dancing in the Moonlight", a cover of King Harvest's US hit written by Sherman Kelly, which became a worldwide hit. Their second album, Magic Hotel, reached number three in the UK Albums Chart. The band reformed in 2009; and continue to perform various gigs and record music, including back in their hometown at 2022’s E-Festival.
Long Man of Wilmington
The Long Man is cut into the surface of Windover Hill near Wilmington village, just outside Eastbourne. Archaeological investigation shows that the figure was probably cut during the 16th or 17th century. Originally carved deep into the chalk, in 1969 it was, somewhat disappointingly, refurbished with white-painted breeze blocks and lime mortar. There is also a horse figure three miles away, on a hillside near Litlington village.
